Chapter 24 – Fly Me To The Moon

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The cold vapor began to fall as rain again.  

The shattered frames and buildings, which had been flying around like toys, slowly settled back to the ground.  

The heavy noise and vibrations from the massive structure colliding with the ground echoed everywhere.  

The sun was now emitting its last rays of light.  

Only the tips of its rays peeked out, as if they might disappear at any moment.  

In that quiet noise, I opened my eyes.  

“Ah, haha. Cough, I’m alive.”  

Cheongung’s stance had completely collapsed due to the technique being countered, and my body was utterly wrecked.  

Since we were both incapacitated, I thought it might end in a draw, but…  

“Does this mean I win by species differential?”  

In the end, considering the results, my victory was undeniable due to my incomparably faster recovery.  

Standing alone in the orange-tinted rain under the sunset glow was me.  

My head was foggy for a while, and I stayed still, but then I couldn’t hold back a laugh and let it out freely.  

“This is the best. It can’t get any better than this. It feels like I’ve poured everything out for the first time in a while.”  

When was the last time I gave it my all like this?  

I don’t remember well. Aside from my childhood, I don’t recall being so passionate about anything.  

I stumbled over to Cheongung, whose posture had collapsed.  

Cheongung was kneeling with his head bowed.  

“You know, I feel like I’ve been talking to people a lot lately. It’s like I’ve used up a lifetime’s worth of words in a month.”  

“…That’s good. If you keep bottling things up, you’ll never find a place to use them.”  

“…Humans are all trash. When dozens gather, they inevitably become like that. They all turn stupid.”  

I complained playfully like that.  

Well, I know it’s not the people, the general public, or the masses who are wrong—it’s me.  

But sometimes, I just want to blame others. It’s just self-comfort.  

“That’s why I like it here. Even though it’s dangerous, it feels like I’m truly living. Really.”  

The light rain washed away the bloodstains.  

So, it feels like I’ll cool down soon.  

If that happens, I’ll only feel embarrassed about this ridiculous play I’ve put on, so I can’t lose this momentum.  

The story isn’t completely over yet.  

I pulled out a sharp, silver fragment I was holding.  

“So, Cheongung, you know what’s coming next, right?”  

“…Vampire Lord?”  

“It’s simple. I don’t know how it works in your world, but for me, it’s straightforward. For the loser, only death awaits. Understand?”  

Cheongung stared at the sharp silver fragment.  

If an ordinary person held it, it might not mean much, but in my hands, it was a weapon sharp enough to easily tear through Cheongung’s skin.  

Cheongung seemed to understand the situation and smirked at me before speaking.  

“…It’s not much different from a life-and-death outcome anyway. If I lose, only death remains. I don’t even have the strength to move anymore.”  

“Yeah, I’m glad you’re taking it well.”  

The noise from the collapsing and crashing buildings had completely faded.  

A deafening silence enveloped the area, so quiet that even the sound of an ant’s breath would be vividly audible.  

The limbs of Baekmo Cheong-an and the White Wolf Faction’s werewolves, had long been buried under the overturned ground and shattered buildings.  

Baekmo Cheong-an could no longer grasp the situation in this chaos through the White Wolf Faction’s werewolves.  

This place was now just the two of us…  

Anyway.  

“Well, it was fun.”  

I raised the sharp, silver fragment high.  

Baekrang Cheongung closed his eyes, and the sharp fragment gleamed in the last rays of sunlight.  

And then.  

“Ahhhhhhhhh!!!”  

The moment I was about to slash Cheongung’s throat, a clumsy battle cry came from behind me.  

“Bingo.”  

Both Cheongung and I smiled.  

The last surge of blood in my body overwhelmed my head.  

* * *  

We needed a way to lure Baekmo Cheong-an onto the stage.  

From the beginning, the reason we fought so seriously was to deceive Baekmo Cheong-an.  

If Cheong-an realized the situation and swallowed the silver pill under his tongue, everything would fall apart.  

The ultimate goal of this play was to save the entire White Wolf Faction.  

To do that, we needed to capture Baekmo Cheong-an and restrain him to prevent him from committing suicide at will.  

But how could we lure Baekmo Cheong-an onto the stage?  

With the White Wolf Faction’s werewolves, who were like his second body, here, he had no reason to come to the scene himself.  

So, we thought of Baekmo Cheong-an’s ultimate goal.  

‘Cheong-an’s plan would fall apart without Cheongung.’  

Even with the numerous werewolves of the White Wolf Faction, someone like me could easily handle them.  

They were only good for guerrilla tactics and diverting attention, but the real power lay with Cheongung, the so-called Sword Saint.  

So, what would happen if Cheongung died?  

All the effort Baekmo Cheong-an put into turning the White Wolf Faction’s werewolves into a hivemind would be for nothing.  

Cheong-an was ultimately pragmatic. He knew that the werewolves alone couldn’t change anything.  

So, we used that to lure Cheong-an onto the stage.  

First, we incapacitated all the White Wolf Faction’s werewolves so Cheong-an couldn’t grasp the situation without coming to the scene.  

Then, we pretended to kill Cheongung to draw Cheong-an out.  

Fortunately, Cheongung played along with the act until the end.  

The sharp, silver fragment was just a piece of rustless metal, but Cheong-an, lacking the senses of a warrior, mistook it for a silver weapon.  

That’s how we successfully deceived him.  

But now, the final problem remained.  

How would I restrain Cheong-an in front of Cheongung without failing?  

How would I safely secure Cheong-an before he could bite the silver pill under his tongue?  

From here, it was all instinct.  

And a bit of guesswork.  

“…Vampire Lord, Vampire Lord!! That’s enough!!”  

It’s hot.  

Cheongung shook my body back and forth.  

The difference in our sizes made my vision shake as if an earthquake had struck.  

“…Ah, uh… okay.”  

My head felt like it was about to explode.  

My ears might as well have been steaming from how hot my head was.  

I looked around blankly for a moment, then turned my gaze to something squirming below.  

“Cruel, but it’s a method I hadn’t thought of. My sword, though I’m ashamed to call it my own, is so sharp that it’s almost painless when it cuts.”  

“…Yeah, werewolves can stay conscious even if their bodies are turned to mush. Since there’s virtually no pain, they’d realize they were attacked and bite the silver pill.”  

So, slashing their throats or cutting them in half wouldn’t work.  

They couldn’t remain conscious.  

They had to be overwhelmed with pain so intense that their minds would shatter in an instant.  

I don’t know how I did it, but the result of my actions was at my feet.  

“Cough, cough….”  

Cheong-an, with bulging veins and a grotesque appearance, was squirming.  

His tongue hung out, and he looked half-dead.  

“I’ve removed the silver pill. You don’t have to worry about Cheong-an killing himself anymore.”  

“That’s… hehe, a relief.”  

A lot happened, but the situation was finally resolved.  

The fatigue in my body was no joke, and I really wanted to rest now.  

“I’ll probably never forget today.”  

It was the day I felt more than ever that the genre of my life had completely changed.  

The excitement, tension, pain, and despair of my first battle—my body remembered it all.  

I lay down and stretched out.  

“It seems everything’s done.”  

“…Ah, Father.”  

Lying down, I tilted my head back and saw the priest walking toward me in the upside-down world.  

In one hand, he held a massive holy book, and in the other, a black umbrella.  

He was unscathed and spotless, which was kind of annoying.  

It makes it seem like I was the only one who struggled.  

“What brings you here…? Did you figure out how to separate the hivemind?”  

“Unfortunately, it’s impossible. So, I applaud your efforts.”  

“Yeah, right….”  

The last bit of sun disappeared on the horizon, and the sky now glowed a bright purple.  

Areas A and B were completely overturned, so the commotion must be huge.  

As for cleanup, Round Ark will handle it, right? They’re supposed to be in charge of that sort of thing.  

Lying on the cold ground, cooling down, I suddenly heard another voice.  

“Brilliant! What a brilliant performance, Vampire Lord. And Sword Saint of the martial world.”  

The voice and tone were unmistakable.  

Mertzel crouched down beside me, who was staring blankly at the sky.  

“You’re not going to tell me to leave right away, are you?”  

“Oh, come on. I have some decency. Vampire Lord, you need to rest now. After all that mess, you deserve a nice, fluffy break.”  

Her words felt off… It’s hard to pinpoint the discomfort.  

Why is my head so hot?  

Was it from controlling the blood outside my body, flowing through Cheong-an’s veins?  

Not every vampire could do something like this. Maybe it’s a side effect of using the Vampire Lord’s power.  

As I was thinking that, an audio clip suddenly brought me back to reality.  

[Heavenly Demon’s Descent.]  

It was a familiar line.  

The fact that it was being repeated now was something I never wanted to imagine.  

When, where, how on earth?  

How did they even record that?!  

At first, my mind was filled with panic, but then…  

“Why are you doing this to me… What’s the problem…?”  

Tears welled up as I felt completely drained.  

Back then, I wasn’t embarrassed—I even thought it was cool.  

“Vampire Lord, it’s adorable. Heavenly Demon’s Descent? Just stomping the ground with all your strength doesn’t make it a real technique.”  

From an outsider’s perspective, this was the most embarrassing black history, now digitally preserved.  

Is teasing me that fun?  

Huh? Is my reaction that entertaining?  

“Why, why the hell? What did I ever do to you?”  

-[Heaven-Splitting Strike.]  

Ahhhhh!!  

“Delete it!! Delete it!!”  

“Ahahaha!!”  

Mertzel held her phone high and ran away.  

Another black history added to the stack.